.260 Remington

I just got my .260 back and fireformed my brass yesterday. It is a 700 that has been trued and bedded in a McMillan stock. I found out that not all of the powder was burning and it would leave a few grains in the barrel after the shot. I am using RE-19. If you have a load that you would like to share, please feel free. I am thinking of switching powders to I-4064.

i don't have a load but there are some at www.accuratereloading.com my brother is thinking about a 260 how is the recoil he can't take a good kick.it should be a tack driver how long did it take to get the work done.have you shot it at long range say 700 or more yards yet thanks,keith

When you say that you were "fireforming" were you using a full charge and a bullet, or a wad of newsprint, soap, etc. and a fast powder, as you might if you had formed your brass from some other parent cartridge. Is that based on the 7X57 Mauser, or what?

In any event, you need to either change powder, or use a mag primer; if you simply mean that you were using normal handloads with factory, virgin brass.

I don't have a 260, and don't know much about it, but it seems like it would be hard to go wrong with either 4350 or 4831 with bullets from 120 to 140 grain. Maybe Reloader 15 might be a better choice, depending on your bullet?

I have a batch of loads that I've compiled from various places on the Internet... mostly match bullets in the 120 or 140gr class and longer barrels (26-30"). I can email them to you in the morning if you want.

The gist of it is that if you are interested in the heavier bullets i.e. 130-140gr you probably want to stick w/ the slower powders... H4350 works well, as does RE-19, H4831, N160. So far I've had pretty good luck w/ RE-19, 47.5gr behind a 123gr Lapua Scenar, others have had good luck w/ 43 grains or so behind a 142gr SMK. I've had excellent results from about 42-43gr of H4350 behind a 142gr SMK as well. As a general rule, most people seem to stick w/ the mid-to-slower powders rather than Varget, 4064, RE-15, with the exception (isn't there always one )of a number of serious competitors use 38.0gr Varget behind a 142gr SMK. A few guys go the opposite way and try the slower powders such as H1000 or RE-22 in order to try to fill up some of the air space in the case (most normal loads in a .260 only fill to about 75-85% or so). One guy is pretty successful w/ a *large* amount of H1000 behind a 142gr SMK; but he has to use a Winchester case and a drop tube to get it all in there

The 6.5-08 is just a smidge behind the 6.5x55 Swede which is just a smidge behind the 6.5-284. There is enough difference though that I wouldn't try using the load data from a 6.5x55 as anything other than a(very) rough ballpark idea for how much powder to use in a .260 Remington.

If you were just fireforming... unless it was a serious full-bore balls-out load, I wouldn't worry about it too much if there is a tad of unburnt powder in the pipe after the shot. If it shoots well, go w/ it.

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